Food processors and blending devices have existed for many years. Example blending devices are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,655,834 and 6,979,117, which are incorporated herein in their entireties by this reference.
Food processors and blending machines are being used now more than ever, particularly in the high-volume, commercial beverage industry. People are increasingly becoming aware of the benefits, in terms of taste and quality, of well-processed beverages. Blended fruit smoothies and similar fruit drinks, popular with all types of people ranging from the fitness conscious to the less active, require a food processor or blending machine. Cold beverages, in particular, which utilize fruit (frozen or fresh) and ice to prepare present unique challenges in beverage preparation. An appropriate blending machine will break down the ice, frozen fruit, and other ingredients in attempting to achieve an ideal uniform drink consistency. In addition, food processors or blending machines are ideal for mixing nutritional supplements into beverages while similarly attempting to achieve an ideal uniform drink consistency.
In addition to the recent increase in the popularity of smoothies, food processors and blending machines are being used to produce many new and different beverages. For example, different types of coffees, shakes, dairy drinks, and the like are now commonly served at many different types of retail business locations. Consumers are demanding more diversity and variety in the beverages available at these smoothie and other retail stores. The keys to producing a high quality beverage, irrespective of the specific type of beverage, are quality ingredients and a high quality blending machine that will quickly and efficiently blend the ingredients to produce a drink with uniform consistency.
When blending thicker products, such as nut butters or hummus, traditional blending containers may be somewhat difficult and time consuming to use because the product will often stick to the walls of the blending jar. The user must stop the blending machine, remove the lid from the blending jar, manually scrape the internal walls of the blending jar, return the lid to enclose the product within the blending jar, turn on the blending machine, and repeat those steps until the product is properly blended. The time and effort required to achieve a desired blend for the product increases with each additional sequence in which the user must remove the lid and manually scrape the product off the internal wall of the blending jar.